Banner Graphic, Volume 12, Number 73, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 December 1981 — Page 7

People in the news Burt Reynolds rates as top idol Who do America’s children most admire and most want to be like when they grow up? Ronald Reagan, perhaps? Or Sandra Day O’Connor? According to a poll of 2,000 eighth graders, the leading role model is Burt Reynolds. The poll was conducted by the World Almanac and Book of Facts, which asked the children to name their 30 top heroes. Not a single business figure, government official, scientist or world leader made the top 30. There were only three sports figures on the list Sugar Ray Leonard (9th), Magic Johnson (22d) and Earl Campbell (24th). The 27 others were entertainers. Reynolds was followed by Richard Pryor and Alan Alda, and others included George Burns (Bth), Steve Martin (10th), Bill Cosby (16th), John Belushi (17th), Christopher Reeve (27th) and Robert Redford (28th). Although half those polled were girls, only five women made the list. Brooke Shields, the 16-year-old actress, placed fourth. Bo Derek, 7th; Kristy McNichol, 18th; Goldie Hawn, 25th; and Olivia Newton-John, 26th. Someone asked the almanac’s publisher, Jane Flatt, What do the results say about the nation’s youngsters? “That they’re very involved with movies and television,” she said. WICHITA, Kan. (AP) They came from all over Kansas on the chance that they might marry the 26-year-old West German woman who asked the mayor for help in finding an American husband. But in the end, Regina Leitner picked none of them. She turned down 50 would-be suitors at a reception Monday night, including Frank Biberstein Jr., a bachelor from Attica, Kan., who had given her a photograph of one of his Hereford cattle. Instead, Miss Leitner said she asked an unidentified man from Elyria, Ohio, to join her for an evening of dinner and dancing paid for by a local radio station, KFH. Mayor Bob Brown had turned down Miss Leitner’s appeal, but the radio station agreed to pay SI,BOO for her plane ticket to Kansas and foot the bill for her stay. On Monday night the station sponsored a reception for some of Miss Leitner’s admirers. “I haven’t added it all up. I just keep writing the checks,” said KFH Station Manager Barry Gaston. • Move over, Mark Twain. Here comes Victor Mature. That’s right, rumors of the actor’s death have been “greatly exaggerated.” And the culprit seems to be a religious organization, Mature said Tuesday after reading in Sunday’s syndicated Parade Magazine that he had died. The Screen Actors Guild has assured him the error was its fault. “Some religious group passed down word that I was dead,” Mature explained. “I don’t blame the Guild.” The actor is a noted golf enthusiast and showed his humor is up to par. “I’m not looking for a job, but if I’m dead, I am the first dead man to make six double-bogeys on the back nine.” • Jane Pauley will emerge with new duties (and a salary increase) in the wake of Tom Brokaw’s departure from NBC’s “Today” Show. She’ll now handle all the news segments, as does Brokaw. New host Bryant Gumbel will conduct the interviews and feature segments. And for his finale on Dec. 18, Brokaw has just firmed up President Reagan as his farewell guest. Brokaw will devote the following three months to working on documentaries for the network before teaming with Roger Mudd on the “NBC Nightly News” in April. # NEW YORK (AP) Bob Keeshan, who has educated and amused legions of little children for 26 years as CBS’s “Captain Kangaroo,” is a grandfather for the first time. Britton Conroy Keeshan was born Tuesday in Greenwich, Conn., the son of Michael and Lynn Keeshan. Bob Keeshan has two other children both daughters.

'We are family' Boys who suffer rare aging disease not alone

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) On the eve of a long-awaited trip to Disneyland, two boys turned into little old men by a rare disease got messages of love from fellow victims on both coasts including one of the oldest sufferers, a 26-year-old artist. “We are of a family we all have the same characteristics,” Meg Casey said Tuesday. Miss Casey contacted The Associated Press from the home she shares with a roommate in Milford, Conn., to extend greetings to the two other progeria victims, Fransie Geringer, 8, of Orkney, South Africa, and Mickey Hays, 9, of Hallsville, Texas. “I really wanted to see the kids,” she said in the highpitched voice characteristic of progeria, an illness that causes baldness, stunts growth and often results in death by the teen-age years. “I don’t know what to say to them except that I’m 26 years old and I’m still here,” Miss Casey said. She said she had never met another victim of the disease, a lament shared by Fransie and Mickey before they were brought together this week. Fransie was to realize his life’s dream today by meeting the storybook character Pinocchio at Disneyland. Until this week when he met Mickey, Fransie found a unique identity with Pinocchio, the adventurous wooden puppet of the 19th-century Italian fable who won a struggle to become a normal boy. “It’s not nice to be the only one,” Fransie once told his mother, Magda, 31. Fransie is a bald dwarf with a pointy nose who at 3 feet 8 inches stands only a couple inches higher than the character portrayed in Carlo Collodi’s fairy tale. His father, Herman, 37, said that every day Fransie prays that God “will make him big and strong.” Fransie journeyed to the United States with his family after an Associated Press article in August told of his struggle against progeria and his dream of meeting Pinocchio. Hundreds of North Americans sent donations ranging from $1 to-S4OO to Fransie’s family or contributed to

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BURT REYNOLDS: Kids'idol Comedian Bob Newhart, one of TV’s most successful funnymen in the ’7os, hasn’t actually had a booming movie career. “Little Miss Marker” with Walter Matthau was a bomb. And “First Family” was one of the all-time losers. It wouldn’t hurt so bad, but Newhart made a classic goof in accepting the “First Family” role from among three film offers he had at the same time. IN ORDER TO ACCEPT the lead in “First Family,” he had to reject the role of the boss in “9 to 5,” a juicy part that wound up going to Dabney Coleman. He also turned down the role in “Caddyshack” that eventually went to Ted Knight. “I really agonized over the ‘9 to 5’ offer, but I finally opted for ‘First Family,’ which may have been a mistake,” Newhart said. “As for the ‘Caddyshack’ part, I didn’t think there was much real humor there. In fact, my buddy Don Rickies was offered a role in ‘Caddyshack,’ as a loud, Jewish country club member. Don said, ‘That’s the last thing I need - to play a loud, Jewish country club member,’ The part later went to Rodney Dangerfield, but they changed the character from Jewish to Polish.” Hollywood observers have theorized that Newhart would be a fine dramatic actor. Bob, however, isn’t certain. “I’D LOVE TO TRY IT, but I can understand a producer’s reluctance to hire me for a straight dramatic role,” he said. “If they’ve got $lO million tied up in a picture and they cast me as a heavy and as soon as I walk through the door, the people start laughing -- there goes 10 mill down the toilet. I’m fully aware that I couldn’t ride into town on a horse and be taken seriously.” • PITTSBURGH (AP) Even though he had planned to give up personal appearances, humorist Russell Baker agreed to give a lecture in Pittsburgh, and give it for free, to make amends for a missed engagement last year. The New York Times columnist said he was booked for the Town Hall-South Lecture series a year ago without his knowledge, despite notice to his booking agent that he was giving up making appearances. When he failed to appear, he was deluged with mail. “I didn’t know what I had done, but I was sufficiently alarmed,” said Baker, who addressed lecture series patrons at the South Hills Village Theater Tuesday. Baker admitted worrying over subject matter when first starting the columns. “But writing columns is like cigarettes,” Baker said. “It becomes a habit and pretty soon the writing becomes automatic.” • Their flight in the space shuttle Columbia had been cut back from five days to two, so Col. Joe H. Engle and Capt. Richard H. Truly decided to do some cutting back of their own on their sleep schedules. During part of the time they were supposed to be sleeping, the astronauts said, they were taking pictures of the passing scenery. “We figured we could sleep when we got home,” said Truly as he and his fellow astronaut showed some of the resulting slides at a news conference in Houston.

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MICKEY HAYS (L), FRANSIE GERINGER

various funds established in his behalf. Texans, meanwhile, raised money to send Mickey to Disneyland at the same time so he could meet Fransie. The boys have been almost inseparable since they met Sunday night. As for who’s more important Pinocchio or Mickey Fransie said, “I love Pinocchio, and I love Mickey ” Tiny Alicia Gowans, an 11-year-old sufferer of the affliction from San Jose, Calif., planned to visit Disneyland with her mother today and possibly meet Fransie. She said she was glad to know she was not alone in suffering the disease. Miss Casey, who wears a blond wig, said, “I never felt ugly, and I was never treated ugly. It’s the person’s inside and not the outside that really matters.”

NBC last once again '6O Minutes'rules Nielsen roost

NEW YORK (AP) “Dallas” was knocked out of first place in the weekly prime-time ratings competition by another CBS stalwart, “60 Minutes,” and the network itself grabbed the No. I spot from ABC in the race for the week ending Nov. 29, figures from the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed. It was the first time this season outside of the two weeks of baseball’s World Series that “Dallas,” the top-rated show in prime time last year, failed to win the weekly competition. The rating for “60 Minutes,” the highest-rated prime-time show two seasons ago, was 29.8. Nielsen said that means of all the nation’s TV-equipped homes, 29.8 percent saw at least part of the newsmagazine. In the networks’ race, CBS and ABC swapped first place for the fourth consecutive week. The No. 1 network had eight of the 10 highest-rated programs, and compiled an average rating for the period of 19.2 to 17.6 for ABC and 15 for NBC. The networks say that means in an average prime-time minute, 19.2 percent of the country’s TV homes were watching CBS. ABC had two Top 10 shows, “Three’s Company” in fourth place “Too Close for Comfort,” in 10th. NBC’s top-rated show, “Little House on the Prairie,” finished 19th. New series were only moderately successful in the ratings, as they have been all season, though a made-for-TV movie on ABC, “Sizzle,” finished 11th, far ahead of NBC’s noble competing effort, “Of Mice and Men.” in 51st place. CBS’ new “Simon & Simon” finished 31st, and “Fall Guy” on ABC was 33rd. “Father Murphy,” on NBC, finished 41st. Eleven of the 12 lowest-rated programs were episodes from new series or specials. The exception was “NBC Magazine,” in 63rd place. NBC’s “Gimme a Break” finished 62nd, with “Making a Living” on ABC 64th. Then, in order, it was, “Darkroom,” “Strike Force,” “Code Red” and “Open All Night,” all on ABC, CBS’ “Jessica Novak,” and four NBC programs, “The Osmond Family Special,” “Nashville Palace,” a movie, “Seal,” and an NBC News special report, “The Spies Among Us.” Here are the week’s 10 highest-rated shows: “60 Minutes,” with a rating of 29.8 representing 24.4 million

House Cal

Child attached to teddy bear at 2

G. Timothy Johnson, M.D. Question: My 8-year-old daughter is still extremely attached to a teddy bear that she has had since she was 2. She absolutely refuses to go to sleep without her teddy bear, and I am becoming nervous about this attachment as she gets older. She is perfectly normal in every other way - a happy, well-adjusted child. Should I worry about the teddy bear? Answer: No. I know many parents who would trade off an attachment to a teddy bear for a “happy, well-adjusted child.” I know of no evidence that a child who clings to a treasured object beyond the pre-school years is any more prone to emotional problems than one who is not. DEAR READERS: An editorial in the Sept., 1981, issue

The perfect Christmas Gift, \ <aW e. 1 m oft A9 i# 1 ®V Ci»" 65 horizon

of Pediatrics, official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, carries an editorial entitled “Be Prepared.” It concerns the importance of preparing young children for an in-hospital experience. Unfortunately, many hospitals still begrudge the time, cost and attention it takes to systematically and thoroughly tell a young child what is going to happen to him or her. The editorial rightly calls for renewed attention to this deficiency in our health care. I endorse it heartily. Question: As a first-time parent, should I start worrying about salt in my child’s diet right from the first months of her life? Answer: Even though there is no proof that salt in a child’s

December 2,1981, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

50familiesgocold turkey on television PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Fifty families who kept their television sets off for a month got together Tuesday to swap, tales about the experience. Most agreed that the tube can be exiled with no ill effect*' and many benefits, but only one family said they might con tinue the boycott. The families, challenged by an English teacher, agreed toturn off their sets during November. Mary and Eric Johnsons said they might keep their television off. In fact, said Mrs. Johnson, her family turned off their television in September when they first heard about Hufstader’s challenge. “We’ve really made some pleasant discoveries in all this,7 she said. “Everybody is finding a little niche in the family room to curl up and read.” The. Johnsons and their two sons broke their fast in October to watch news of the killing of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and last month for the launching and landing of the space shuttle Columbia. Peter H. Hufstader, the English teacher who said he issuecl the challenge as “a gimmick to point out that heavy, chronic television watchers do not make good readers,” noted thai only about 10 percent of the families with children at theschool took part.

homes, “Dallas,” 28.8 or 23.6 million, and “Dukes of Hazzard.” 24.3 or 19.9 million, all CBS; “Three’s Company,” 23.6 or million, ABC; NFL football prime-time runover, 23.4 or 19.2 million, “The Jeffersons,” 23.2 or 19 million, “One Day at a Time,” 23.1 or 18.9 million, “Alice,” 22.8 or 18.7 million, and “Archie Bunker’s Place,” 22.6 or 18.5 million, all CBS, and “Too Close for Comfort,” 22.5 or 18.4 million. ABC.

diet during the first year of life might contribute to later high blood pressure, that first year of life is a good time for a parent to start thinking about the longterm dietary habits of his or hers child. In terms of salt, infant foods and formulas are less of a problem than the table food the child often eats during the first year of life. Life-long habits are likely to be instilled by the table diet of a given family. I personally endorse the idea of trying to raise a child in the early years to get along without added table salt. While I’m also throw in the obvious recommendation to try to avoid developing a life-long sweet tooth in a child. Diabetes affects between four

and 10 million people in this country - and the number increases an alarming 6 percent every year. In fact, diabetes is the most common metabolic disorder in humans. Yet it is one of the few medical defects in which the patient can have a major impact on the course of the disease. In his new HEALTHBEAT Special Report, Dr. Johnson tells you what diabetes is and what you can do to control it. For a copy of his informative and encouraging report, send $1 and a long, stamped (20 cents) selfaddressed envelope to DEABETES REPORT, Box 259, Norwood, N.J. 07648. Make checks payable to Newspaper books. (C) 1981 By The Chicago Tribune-New York

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